Greetings from the Republic of Yemen,
After what seemed to be enough air travel to plant me firmly on Gustaf’s crater on Mars, I arrived safe, sound and slightly (note that travel alliteration) jet lagged in Sanaa. Four continents in a 20 hour period.
Cairo was interesting from the air (did not get off the plane). I think the population is about 15 million people and all you see is endless reddish, brown apartment buildings that seemed to go on for at least 30 minutes in the air so you can imagine how expansive it was. I was looking for signs of their ancient civilization but I discovered quite the opposite. I could see McDonald’s HQ (McTut burger please-do you want sand with that).
Now you all know about what an insufferable namedropper I can be (Eric Lindros, Tom Waits) now I can add Allison Forsythe to the list. As you all know she is on the Canadian National Ski Team in the downhill and G.S. events. And as you all know the fine athlete and the dweeb accountant were sitting next to each other on the flight to Frankfurt. Young Allison had some World Cup podium finishes and was 7th at the Utah Olympics. After charming her with my fascinating tales of being an International Accountant of Intrigue I have talked my way in becoming her manager and my first order of business would be to get myself a free snowboard from her husband who is a rep in France. An amazing tid bit of information that I learned was that in her sport one second could separate 30 racers. So just think that after a night of sex (including foreplay) 30 racers could have passed me by.
Good luck in October Allison and remember those visualization techniques that we practiced.
I thought the process of getting into Yemen would be an ordeal with customs (anal probes and the like) but Nexen employees go through the VIP entrance where foreign diplomats are ushered in. The entire process takes about 2 minutes.
My condo in Sanaa is great. Very new, modern and relatively large. It is a lot nicer than that dump I own in Calgary (Sorry Ashlee). It has all the creature comforts of Western Living including about 4000 appliances save the George Forman grill (knock out the fat-pow). It kind of looks like an Ikea show room. The neatest thing on earth is the remote controlled air conditioner. As the remote and I spoon at night I let her know just how much I love her, appreciate her and need her. Ironically, I will have less sleepless nights in Yemen because of the heat as opposed to Calgary. But that ain’t so ironic as the coldest night of my life was in the Moroccan desert and not in Canada. So just back off.
Sanaa in about 7,551.367 feet above sea level so it does not get as hot as other places in the Arabian Gulf. It does not get much hotter than 30 so of course I thank, God, Allah, Buddha and every other deity than should get thanks. However, I will be going to the field soon and gets hotter there than on Mercury. The air is very thin and I now can relate to Black Angus as I now get winded walking up a flight of stairs. After a few more days of getting climatized I am sure that I will go back to my elite athlete status.
Sanaa is typical of a third world city-poor, run down and a weak infrastructure. It is very dusty and dry but now it is the monsoon season (1 per person) but it still does not rain much. It looks like someone carved out the gravelly hills and stuck Sanaa here. It is called a wadi in Arabic, a glen in Gaelic and a valley in English.
We are driven from the office to the compound and this proves to be a great source of entertainment. No traffic lights, no lanes, no system of anything. Each turn, round about and hidden intersection seems to be a leap of faith. Each trip brings me close to God but is all seems to work. The old city is amazing. It seems to be in a bit of a time warp. With the exception of the odd scooter and cell phone it seems that you are in the Middle Ages. We definitely stood out as Westerners but our Yemeni Army tour guide kept a sense of calm.
Babal Yemen (old city) is a walled fortress with an incredible array of architecture (olive colored buildings with an intense attention to detail around the windows and doors). Narrow streets lined with souks that have been there for hundred’s of year.
For the Frank MacDonald trivia of the day Sanaa claims to be the oldest, continuously inhabited city on earth. They also stake claim to the world’s first sky scrappers (7 stories) and mocha coffee. They also claim to be the home of Brittany Spears. It is also a city of contrasts: beat up cars competing for space with new SUV’s and luxury cars, women in full hajabs walking with kids that look like hip hop wanna be’s: old men that are stoned on quat (pronounced stoned on cat) that are doing a whole lot of nothing versus the frantic pace of some of the young. To quote Yogi Berra, It gets late early here, 7:00 p.m. and it is pitch dark.
It is amazing how quickly you adjust to things. Men with machine guns checking out vehicles for bombs seem to be quite normal after a few days here.
Arab hospitality is genuine and ubiquitous. Everyone cares about you, your family and your kids in particular. I told them that I have a real plant. They are also amazing with names. They can meet a group of people, hear the name once and always remember. As for me, well that is why I call my parents by their first names because I know that I will forget otherwise.
Every morning at 4:00 am (AM) you can here the slightly mysterious, slightly melodic, slightly hypnotizing call to prayer. So I bolt from my bed and yell to the top of my lungs that I am an American that wants to sleep and that they should take their @#$#$$%$% praying elsewhere. And that my friends is how you endear yourself to your Arab hosts.
Hope every one is well and for God’s sake please keep me informed as to what is happening with Canadian Idol.
Onward,
Frankie
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